Control the calories before and during Christmas so January doesn’t see you FAT

It is the old rhyme that features the Goose being fattened ready for the Christmas feast. Don’t follow in the steps of the Goose getting fat from eating too much in a short period of time. Extra weight is often put on during the Christmas celebrations when large amounts of food in the home somehow signifies wealth and happiness. At festive times there is always a list of highly calorific foods available. If you are going to eat any of these high calorie rich food goodies e.g. mince pies, rich fruit cake, hand made chocolates then take control and limit what you eat. Check out the calorie count before you buy or eat any of these seasonal celebratory foods. The same goes for alcoholic drinks, moderation is always a valid path to take.

Try swapping something out of your normal meal when you have one of these treats. For example cut out bread and butter for the base of a sandwich and have a wrap instead or use large lettuce leaves stuffed with your choice of filling. There are plenty of ideas for healthy lower calorie foods and meals on the internet – having a balance is the aim of any good meal and diet.

Some people get caught up eating or even gorging on these high calorie foods at Christmastime due to stress or upset, so try relaxing quietly on your own for 5 or 10 minutes. Just have a quiet day dream imagine somewhere special for example a favourite holiday place.

So don’t wait for January until you see the FAT problem. Christmas is coming and so is January, New Year resolutions can start now and get you ready to avoid extra FAT and weight gain.

Who is a sales person? We all have a role as a sales person, believe me it’s true.

Whatever we do in life somewhere along the road we have to become a salesperson. Whether we know it or not, like it or not. Whether it’s for financial reward or just to improve our life the art of selling is a part of our existence. Remember your first girlfriend / boyfriend, you had to sell yourself to them whether it was done consciously or not. We go on through life using our in built ability to promote ourselves in a job, a relationship, a family, a sports team to name just a few. Where we need to persuade, coerce or win over others then our selling ability needs to shines through.

Not everyone is good at sales. There are lots of people who are not at all good and this often includes people who have been trained to sell some obviously are better than others. Some will have to work at it, rehearse and polish their performance to a level that looks natural and convincing. Everyone providing a service or doing a job of work has to accept that they have a part to play in ‘selling’ themselves and the benefits of their organisation internally as well as externally.

‘He’s a natural born salesman’ and ‘he could charm the birds out of the trees’ are couple of sayings and descriptions that when examined relate to a person’s ‘natural’ ability to communicate, to talk and ultimately to ‘sell’ themselves to their intended target.

Often the good sales people have an abundance of ‘in built skills’ that they have subconsciously gathered during their formative years. Communication skills in particular give the good sales person an edge. I’m not just talking about talking, instead I mean listening to the words used, looking at the facial clues, the body language, eye movement and micro expressions.

When someone is telling you a story, you may have a ‘gut feeling’ that you are perhaps not getting the truth. This instinctive reaction is based on detailed evidence that you have stored in your subconscious during your formative years and your subconscious is now sending you a warning. Facial expressions, body movements and tone of voice are just a few. I know that is a very simplistic explanation yet that is how we evolve and move forward in life. Benefit from discovering some new ways of getting in tune with your customers, colleagues, family and friends.

So could you become a better salesperson using self-hypnosis? Of course it’s possible. Recognise your natural intuitive abilities and harness them in a more effective manner and see your performance improve. Hypnosis and self-hypnosis allow you to find a way to access deep relaxation which better prepares you to handle pressure. The challenge of meeting targets, closing the deal and managing stress in your workplace becomes easier to control.

Hypnosis and Self Hypnosis can make a difference to your life. A good place to start to learn is from a trained Hypnotherapist, open up a new way of enjoying and improving your life. You can drop me an email and start the ball rolling today!

The Monkees – end of a lifetime

Years ago when I was a teenager I was bemused by my mother always referring to a recent passing of a film star or singer as being a sad loss as they meant so much. I couldn’t understand how someone who you had never met could have an effect on your life like that. Now I’m at that age where the same thing is happening to me, people who I have never met pass away and I feel emotionally connected to that sad event.

The latest sadness is the passing of Davy Jones from the Monkees it seemed like he had been in and out of my life since I was a young teenager. Many of their songs would always be heard every year on different radio shows and were great to listen to at any time which of course would instantly get you singing along, the words were always there in the back of your mind from years gone by.

Only recently Davy Jones was talking in an interview on BBC TV he looked really great and didn’t (in my opinion) look his real age and still retained that sparkle of his youth. His daughter recently stated that her father tried to please everyone and considered that stress would have been a major contributor to his death as he was constantly on the road keeping up with the demands of the music industry. Would he have had it any other way? Often people become so famous due to there real personality and not a ‘mask’ to comply with expectations. I think for all those years we got a lot of the real person someone driven to be the star that so many loved and admired. Thankfully he will live on for many of us through his music and in our memory bringing back carefree times of formative years. Thank you for being that Daydream Believer.

Adv Dip H – Advance Diploma Hypnotherapy

I ended January on a high with the achievement of gaining the Advance diploma in hypnotherapy. After completing many hours of research, study and a few late nights I put it all together and passed with a high standard of work. Hypnotherapy is really about helping people help themselves, whilst studying is good for me it is done with the belief that it will be more beneficial for the client now and in the future. We live in a changing world and keeping up sometimes takes away our energy and motivation, the key is to make it work for you and not to become a slave to trends and fashions just to keep up.

I’m sure there are plenty of people around the Manchester area that are under stress from trying to keep up with:- work, the needs of family, money and possibly illness or caring for someone. Relaxation through hypnotherapy is just one way of winding down. There are many people throughout the world using self-hypnosis everyday to realise a state of calmness and improve control over their lives. Hypnosis is not only for the individual, group sessions are often held to enable a group of friends to discover how hypnosis and relaxation therapy can work for them. Other groups use hypnotherapy for weight loss control or smoking, of course hypnotherapy in a group means that it is ‘generalised’ and not a specific tailored treatment for each individual. Having said that, group hypnosis and hypnotherapy does appeal to many.

A new month February – ‘Valentines day’ and ‘Pancake Tuesday’ (or Shrove Tuesday) just two days that generate a number of passions and commercial stimulation. Cards, flowers, chocolate hearts, flour eggs and ‘squeezy’ lemon juice just a few items that will be on many of our shopping lists in the coming days. Whatever you are buying for your loved ones attach a special thought to the gift, think about what it means, what message do you want it to give and it will make it that little bit more special, go on give it a try!

The Festive Season 2011 is now over and done with bring on 2012!!

This time of year is when the pressure for many people becomes overwhelming. Thinking of the people who are no longer here to share the joy of life, thinking of the good times gone by and worrying about what the future holds. All of these thoughts and emotions can have an affect on us. Some people cope well with this time and absorb the celebrations, enjoying the lifting of their spirits! Others are overcome with grief of a time or situation gone by and they become unsettled possibly suffering from stress or depression and wanting this time to pass quickly. Some may well turn to the relief of over drinking or even overeating. Help may be close at hand, just by simply listening and giving time to the person who is encountering this difficult period the gloom may be lifted and they too can enjoy the ‘time of goodwill’ and look forward to a New Year of valuable life.

It is also a great time to get in touch with those long standing friends and relatives who you meant to contact during the year and for the normal reasons of everyday life you failed to complete the excercise. Making ‘resolutions’ often seems to be a quick fix statement then the rest of the year kicks in and the resolutions are but a distant memory! Planning is not everyones’ cup of tea, I find that it helps me and I have helped clients through hypnosis to make planning work (see hypnotic coaching).

There is a saying attributed to John Lennon that says “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making plans” which is a good way to make us think about how we use plans in our life. Making an effort to get in touch and see old friends can provide a welcome boost to your life whether or not you use a plan. Put a deadline date on when you will make that contact and just do it!! You do have to start somewhere and at some time, now or in the future, using New Year wishes is as good a place as any to start, good luck.

Thank you for reading this blog please accept my sincere wishes for a Happy New Year 2012, and make life work for you while you are here to enjoy.

Plenty of people may think to themselves ‘I’m Fat, what do I do?’, not many will admit to friends or family that weight and eating is their problem.

Lets face it being fat has a number of negatives that cause concern not only in a medical, health related way, it also raises personal issues with loved ones and friends, it can damage your career, ouch! it can lead to depression and a miserable existence.

Eating can be seen as the essential function of life, the fuel that keeps the engine going yet here in the west we have too much choice in the way of food and we put a great deal of pressure on the engine by eating too much food.

In the poorer countries of the world there is scarcely enough grain and water to keep people from dying through starvation, just the extreme basics can keep people alive and often that is not available to them. Why is there such an imbalance? I fear that question would never receive a simple one line answer.

The internet has an array of products to buy and read all related to the latest miracle of how to lose weight, how to look good, have a flat tummy in 30 days, etc. etc. the list goes on and on.

I try and help people to overcome their weight issues and I’m sure there are plenty of other people out there doing the same. I find that while we are all different and different foods effect us in different ways there is always one action or measure that can be successful in weight management – Eat Less, weigh your portions, keep a daily log of your intake, just one week will give you a picture that may surprise you!

Once you have a clear picture of the quantity you eat try and reduce it by say 20% and see what happens, the next week another 20% until you start to lose weight.

One thing we could all do throughout the wealthy west is to miss out just One meal every other day. Calculate how much that meal or fast food fix would have cost and donate the amount to the starving people of our world, just an idea, think what we could achieve?

From Friday 11th February I will be available at Uppermill Therapies, 42 High Street, Uppermill, OL3 6HA. I will be there on a Friday to offer clients my services by prior appointment. I look forward to seeing you there.

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